s there a more maddening industry? They confuse us with silly product names (the Sealy Posturepedic Crown Jewel Fletcher Ultra Plush Pillowtop or the Sealy Posturepedic Crown Jewel Brookmere Plush?). They flummox us with bogus science (“pocketed coils”? “Microtek foundations”? “Fiberlux”?). And they weigh us down with useless features (silk damask ticking?). It’s like buying a used car, and almost as expensive—I’ve seen mattresses going for $7,000. What’s a consumer to do?

Link To Article

There is definately a lot of good information in here, including a few things I’ve adapted. For one I have a European style platform bed and have ditched the box springs. I also found myself nodding about the mattress being too thick, and eventually I’d like to replace mine with one that is much thinner. Lastly, I bought an inexpensive “memory foam” topper which really took the comfort level of my bed to the next level. I’ll elaborate on the topper in a future review (of which I already have a draft of).

As I wrote earlier, fried rice is more of a formula than a single recipe. So rather than list actual ingredients and give you a recipe, I’ll explain a few basic things you need to get right to make sure your fried rice comes out great. (But don’t worry, a recipe too shall follow.)

I tend to cook with the mind of a chemist– I know what ingredients do what for a given dish and can whip up quite a few things without recipes or measuring, and this will be another one to add to the list. Also during the quest for a good fried rice recipe, I also found one that looks to be a good base for Thai Fried Rice as well.

The one that worked for me was to put the peeled onion in the freezer for ten minutes. Also, keeping them refrigerated is a listed option as well.

Another option which I haven’t tried, is to wear swimming goggles while chopping onions. Granted you’ll look kind of silly, but you’ll be able to chop onions like any other vegetable.

Anyone over 50 can probably remember what “old” people were 30 or 40 years ago. Usually they were people over 50! Most boomers no longer consider themselves old, which is quite possible with life expectancy going up year after year. But we need our health to assure us of a quality of life into our sixties, seventies and beyond.

One thing which I think is missing from the list is getting married. Yes, this sounds strange coming from a youngish bachelor, but I’ve read many tidbits here and there about how being married is much better for your health. Although owning a pet is a good one (one of many reasons I adopted a dog), but you can’t replace a significant other with a pet.

Preparation is the best defense against the demons of nature and other unforeseen disasters. While a beekeeper’s suit or a personal bomb shelter might help you rest easily at night, there are more practical ways to protect your personal treasures.

Some of the tips I like include ways to preserve objects of sentimental value which you would not have time to grab should the worst occur.

The financial freedom of a modest, early retirement is actually achievable for many smart and motivated people in college or their early 20′s. If you make early retirement your highest priority in life and follow a disciplined path to obtaining it, you should be able to leave work permanently in your 30′s and spend your life and time at your complete discretion.

This guide is a bit extreme, so I think it only applies to a very small population of people, however there is plenty to take from the article.

One interesting thing to note is that it suggests renting rather than buying unless you’re in an area of low costs. I’d have to say I agree with them– I regret buying sometimes as I was in a much better financial position until I started “paying the man” every month, including all of the other things that come with ownership (needing furniture, etc). While I’m slowly building equity, I think I could have done better on my own by renting and socking the difference into an index fund or something of the sort.

Don’t throw away those exercise videos and ubiquitous AOL CDs. Jim Williams wants you to mail old videotapes and CDs to him, so that more than 40 disabled staffers at his ACT Recycling in Columbia, Missouri can recycle them. And, oh, don’t toss out those used Fed-Ex envelopes or broken smoke detectors; their manufacturers take them back for recycling.

Indeed, these days, it seems that more cast-offs than ever can be recycled. No matter where you live, you can recycle a wide range of discards—aseptic juice packages, printer cartridges, ordinary batteries, iPods, PDAs, and even cell phones.

Surprised? Recycling has leap-frogged ahead, meaning if you haven’t checked the recycling scene since the mid-1990s, it’s possible that much of what you thought you knew is wrong. Not only can you recycle more things, but your discards are very much in demand, perhaps more than you realize.

Get this: Recycling and reuse businesses now employ about as many people as the auto industry, if not more, according to a 2001 “U.S. Recycling Economic Information Study� commissioned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and several states through an agreement with the National Recycling Coalition. At least 1.1 million people now work in the industry, more than triple the jobs in mining. BusinessWeek in February pegged the number of auto factory workers at about 950,000. Demand from industrializing China and India is helping spur the U.S. recycling industry, which now provides a “major source of raw materials,� according to Jerry Powell, editor of Resource Recycling magazine.

You can read more about recycling discarded items here.

billQ is a new web-based application that gives you an easy way to keep track of your bills. With billQ, you can make sure you always know exactly what you have to pay, and when you have to pay it.

You can also set up groups. This is useful if you have related bills or if you have multiple people paying a bill. A good example would be setting up a group so all of your roommates can split rent.

I would imagine most people using the internet to track bills and what not would just do it through online banking, though it seems to be a good way for groups of people to track bills (ie, maybe a planned trip, shared housing, some sort of club, etc).

Do you hate having your picture taken because you always seem to come out looking hideous? Have you ever been on a date with someone whose online photo knocked you out but whose appearance in real life turned out to be a bit uninspiring? What’s the deal with pictures? While being photogenic just comes naturally to some people, there are a few things that anyone can do to look better in photos. Try out the tricks in this article and stop running for cover whenever the camera comes out.

To read the tips on how to be photogenic, check them out here.